A different path
by Sibrael
Summary: Sakura had not been sitting near Naruto the day of the Third part of the Chuunin exams. Events end up unfolding very differently and no one is left unaffected.
1. Chapter 1

Sakura ducked beneath the seat in front of her, feeling the wind ruffle her hair as a kunai flew inches above her head. She heard a squelch behind her, turned and realised her mistake. A Konoha ninja lay sprawled in his seat with a kunai through his eye. Unlike her, he hadn't been able to break the genjustu over the stadium. Sakura grabbed a kunai from her pouch and turned to meet her attacker only to watch him be cut down by a jonin.

In the far distance she could see Kakashi talking to Shikimaru and Naruto. She was glad she hadn't chosen to sit with them - the fighting was worse over there. It was a genin's job during an invasion to get the civilians to the shelters, but looking around she wasn't near any of the exits. Heart racing, Sakura did not like her odds of fighting her way to them. All the invaders appeared to be at least chuunin level in strength.

Trying to force the panic down, Sakura hid her chakra signature and tried to take an inventory of her situation. She was surrounded by enemy ninja with no teammates, with just a half dozen kunai and four exploding tags. It wouldn't be enough. Sakura turned around and snatched a pouch from the dead ninja scattering its contents in her haste to see what was inside. Her eyes devoured two full packs of explosive tags, two bandages, five smoke bombs, a scroll, six kunai, eight shuriken a lighter and a pack of cheap cigarettes. Satisfaction warred with guilt as bar the cigarettes, she stuffed the contents into her own pouch. But the shinobi was dead and there was nothing she could do to make it up to him.

On her hands and knees, Sakura began crawling towards the exit. Upon reaching a kunoichi in a well-worn flak jacket, she realised she had been wrong. Sakura didn't feel, and likely wasn't strong enough to protect the slumbering around her, but she could help by giving them the gift that she had expected from her sensei but never received – the ability to protect oneself. Sakura lay her hands on the kunoichi in front of her, forcing her chakra to surge through the woman's system.

The kunoichi woke and seeing Sakura's hands on her, she tensed.

With a jolt Sakura then remembered all the Academy lectures about needing to be careful when waking comrades, particularly jonin and those who had been in the last war. "Sand and Sound have attacked!" Sakura rushed out.

The kunoichi looked up to survey the situation around her, nodded at Sakura and leapt from her seat to start carving an impressive path to the thick of the fighting.

Sakura envied her confidence. Continuing to tightly mask her chakra, Sakura moved along only to hear a loud thud behind her. She whipped her head around and saw a Sand shinobi lying in the aisle behind her with a broken leg and laceration along his jaw. Blood spurted onto her dress from where his hand used to be. Sakura spun around, fell towards the man and stabbed downward with her kunai, crying out when a dagger made a gash in her arm. She struggled to maintain her position on top of him and stabbed and stabbed until long after he stopped moving.

Sakura looked down into unseeing eyes. I just killed someone she thought dazed. The sting in her arm distracted her from her thoughts and so she tore off the bottom of her dress and bandaged her arm the best she could. She pursed her lips. It wasn't great but it would do. Eager to get away from the corpse, Sakura hurried to the next Konoha ninja. He was a blonde-haired boy, barely older than herself, possibly still a genin. It occurred to her that if she could wake another couple of genin, that they could work together, that she would no longer be in a fight by herself. It was not to be however, as the boy squeaked out something about needing to check on his family and left Sakura there without a backward glance.

Feeling discouraged, she crawled through blood, continually praying in her head, thanking Kami her parents worked near a shelter and begging to live another day. Again and again she broke the enemy's genjustu on her colleagues, exchanging a few quick words with the ninja before continuing on her path. Sakura shuffled along to the next Leaf nin and realised with no small amount of disgust that it was Iruka-sensei. Isn't he supposed to be one teaching Academy students to break genjustu, she thought to herself? Once more Sakura thwarted the genjutsu. Seeing Iruka begin to smile at her, Sakura nipped his thought in the bud. "Sound and Sand have attacked."

Iruka glanced around realising she was right. "Well done, waking me up Sakura-chan," he murmured.

Sakura felt warmed despite herself. Was this really the time for pep-talks she thought? It occurred to her then that if Iruka was in such a chatty mood that this might be a good time to consult a superior officer. "Thanks, should I continue to wake our people Sir?" Sakura thought he appeared startled by the address and then watched his face harden into an expression she had never seen before.

Iruka surveyed the stadium around them. Blades clashed and jutsu roared in his ears. ANBU flanked the Hokage while others made a concerted effort to take out as many invaders in as short a time-frame as possible. Many jonin continued to fight in the stands trying to prevent Sound ninja deliberately aiming for those who were sill under the genjutsu's effects while others had forced the battle to the pit and were only able to prevent falling over the growing pile of corpses due to years spent in the field. Though some chuunin appeared to have banded together into teams to take out the enemy, most appeared to have left the stadium to carry out preassigned tasks or were no longer capable of standing. With a thunderous crash Sakura turned to see enormous snake summons break the village walls, walls that hadn't fallen since the Kyuubi attack. Sand ninja began swarming into the village. They would need everyone they could get. "There appears to be no other determined effort to break our people out of the genjutsu. Continue as you were soldier," and then Iruka too leapt to join the fray.

Gulping at the realisation that she was responsible for waking the rest of the stadium, Sakura continued on. She broke the genjustu over and over again. She ignored the screams of the dying and the heat of a fire jutsu overhead, she simply continued on, if not with unwavering confidence than with unwavering purpose. The danger didn't pass but the routine of crawl, wake, inform, crawl, wake, inform became soothing and vaguely reassuring. The feeling of being outclassed was at the very least familiar and the part of her mind that was always analysing continued to churn in the background.

Sakura had recently begun to questions whether she should have invested less time in honing her chakra control and more time practicing her taijutsu, even if it would have bulked her up. Now she appreciated how she could crawl between the stadium's seats when many boys in her class would have been unable. She valued how little chakra it took her to break her fellow ninja out of the genjutsu and how she crawled with a stealth that would have been impossible had she been working with her teammates. When a sword headed towards her neck, a substitution with an enemy's activated explosive tag flying through the air proved she didn't need flashy jutsu to kill. When Sakura got over her surprise at how many chuunin and jonin had fallen for the genjutsu and lost count of the number of ninjas she woke, it was not only Inner Sakura who acknowledged that she had worth as a ninja during a fight.

The second time that Sakura woke what she suspected was a genin wearing an unfaded hintaiate that was not with their team, he looked at her with panicked eyes and a bewildered expression on his face. "What do I do, my team's not here?" He looked around. "I don't even know where they were sitting!"

Hearing the boy's voice rise with increasing hysteria, Sakura looked up into wide eyes. "You can help me wake up our ninja."

"But I have poor chakra control. It was why I was caught in the first place."

"Then cover me while I do it," Sakura replied matter of factly. With some surprise Sakura watched the brown-haired boy nod and begin to calm down despite taking on a job in a more exposed position. He stood defensively, deflecting nearby kunai but choosing not to actively engage the ninja around him unless necessary.

After waking a man wearing the grey uniform of the Intelligence Division, Sakura came across a tall grey-eyed boy that she recognised had graduated with her that year. Remembering her lone defender, Sakura told him to either help her wake the sleeping or guard her as well before he could run off like the first boy. Appearing more collected that the last genin, he stood with his back angled toward the brunette and kunai in hand.

Sakura had another once snoring chuunin up on his feet when she came across a kunoichi with an unfaded hintaiate and barely worn kunai pouch – another genin. "Are you good with genjutsu?" she asked her upon waking.

The muscular girl shook her head.

"Then guard me while I wake our people." Sakura replied firmly. Seeing the girl's fear she added "You'll have two others to help you." Watching the girl calm and join the genin's formation, a part of Sakura wondered over the fact that her instructions had been followed without question. Did they think her a chuunin? She doubted it. She had never been intimidating and she wore no chuunin vest. Then again, there was no one here of higher rank to instruct the genin to do otherwise or announce a team leader. They were all genin here. The team leader would be the one who well… lead.

Sakura's mind whirled when she realised that she was the in-principle leader of the genin around her. It made her take further stock of the situation. Her team had been heading towards the thickest of the fighting. Though her team had managed so far, they were unfamiliar with each other's abilities and on an individual level outclassed by any of the enemies they would face. It was too dangerous. Though they would wake ninja in the most danger, they would wake less ninja overall if they were taken out. Better to help those sleeping among the thickest of the fighting by waking others to kill the invaders around them.

She stood. "We're taking too much heat here. Move higher up into the stands." She watched the others nod and move in formation around her as she headed to higher ground, crouched down and continued her work heading away from the worst of the fighting.

A stray shuriken slashed her shoulder as it passed by. Sakura hissed. It wasn't deep so she gritted her teeth and moved on. Sakura broke another chuunin squad out of the genjutsu and then came across the body of a Leaf ninja lying on the ground who unlike those previously was still breathing. A nasty bruise was forming on his head and a gash in his calf was leaking more blood than she felt comfortable with. She took out a bandage and began applying first aid. It wasn't much but it was all she could do. Hearing a groan, Sakura looked into unfocused, golden eyes as he tried to sit up. "Careful there. You've taken a nasty looking blow to the head."

Realising he was unsteady on his feet the man grimaced, reached into his pocked and popped a soldier pill into his mouth.

Sakaura considered him. "You any good at breaking genjutsu?" Sakura doubted he was a genin but she was tired of the pace. With two people breaking the genjutsu she could cover more ground.

Golden eyes stared back into hers. "I am."

Feeling daring, Sakura grinned. "You mind helping me wake people up to kill these fuckers."

The man looked amused. "No, I don't mind at all." He grinned and it was full of promise.

Sakura and the golden-eyed man continued waking ninja to join the fight. Though she could feel the strength and chakra of her genin team flagging, as a group they moved down their section at a much brisker pace than before.

Sakura felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as a large chakra signature, likely jonin headed straight for her. It appeared someone had finally seemed to take serious offence to what they were doing. She swallowed and looked up. A Sound kunoichi unfurled a scroll and a barrage of kunai hurtled toward her. Too many to block, too many to dodge. Grimacing, Sakura raised her kunai hoping to block those on the deadliest trajectory. She found it wasn't necessary as the wooden stands groaned and an earth wall rose before her blocking the attack. A rustle of fabric and then her fellow shinobi was no longer beside her. His sword gleamed with a sheen of poison as he engaged the kunoichi. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief until she realised the man was clearly the more injured of the two.

To make matters worse, at that moment her remaining guards began to engage another foreign ninja. Throwing caution to the wind, Sakura ran to the nearest chuuin, hoping they could provide them with more aid. With a start she realised she recognised the next two, they had tried to dissuade genin from taking the Chuunin Exam. With a hand on each, her chakra surged again. "Sound and Sand have inva-" before she could finish her sentence, the one with the spikey hair was pushing her head down while the other deflected a kunai with his sword, turning to engage a third Sound ninja in a sword fight. The one she nicknamed "Porcupine" joined in and quickly finished off his partner's assailant.

Glancing around, Sakura realised many of the fights had moved – she was now in the thick of it. A dark purple cube had appeared on the other side of the stadium and trees sprouted within it.

A cry behind her made Sakura turn just in time to watch one of her boys fall to the ground. He did not get back up and Sakura could not tell if he was still breathing. The sound nin advanced towards her two remaining teammates only to collapse as another fallen Konoha ninja hamstrung the man from behind. The genin kunoichi she had woken then slammed his head into the ground until the back of his skull smeared blood all over the ground and fluid ran from his ears. As relieved as she was Sakura realised it was a lucky break.

Golden eyes landed in front of her with the gate guards at his back. "Thanks for waking us up but we can wake the rest from hear. Take the others, leave the stadium and help evacuate the civilians outside."

Sakura nodded, watched them vanish in front of her and looked for her team. They were crouching around the fallen genin. Sakura hurried over. His lag was pierced with several kunai and her teammates were arguing over what to do. He couldn't stand on it. They couldn't remove the kunai – he would bleed out. They could carry or drag him but it would leave them exposed. Sakura's eyes swept the stadium and realised they were now very close to one of the exits. She thought they could probably make it but what was to say that the fighting would be any better outside the stadium? It occurred to Sakura that they could just leave him, after all they would be leaving a great many people in the stadium already, what was one more? Sakura found herself dismissing the thought. She had orders and he had been the first one to follow her, making him the last one she could consider abandoning if she was to keep any credibility with the others as a leader. She would get him out. Ducking behind a row of seats she growled in frustration looking for inspiration. The muttering genin behind her were counting on her to make this work.

Finally, she found it in the sight of a red kanji, the symbol of the Medic Corps. She rushed over to the man and broke the genjutsu's hold. She spoke in clipped tones. "Sound and Sand have attacked. Follow me. There is a shinobi in need of healing." She spun around quickly in the hopes that he would follow and to her relief she heard the sound of his sandals behind her. She dropped beside the genin. "I've brought a medic. Once you can move we're leaving the stadium to evacuate the villagers outside."

She watched the relief in the brunette's blue eyes at her words only to hear him scream as the medic removed the kunai. With a sense of déjà vu, Sakura gripped his hand and felt him crush hers in turn. "It will be alright. Don't focus on the pain. Focus on me." The boy looked up and his gaze locked on hers as other meaningless reassurances fell from her lips. They held each other's hands and gazes until the medic-nin was finished. She rose. "It's time." Recalling lessons from the academy, Sakura gave the order to guard the medic. A diamond formation was assembled around him as they headed for the exit. Despite the throng of ninja around them, they were able to leave unmolested.

Having taken point, Sakura was the first to see the situation outside. What had initially been a lull in the fighting and chaos quickly deteriorated into utter mayhem, for now among the crash of blades and jutsu were civilians running around. Grandparents, spouses holding hands, children with and without adults were all running screaming, often in completely different directions. One held a toddler in one arm with a kitchen knife in the other while a portly man dragged a sack of what appeared to be every valuable he owned. A man covered in dust and minor wounds staggered around with a vacant expression and a dog nudged a dead girl on the ground.

Sakura struggled to take in the scene around her. _What do I do? Do I ferry the whole group in front of me to the nearest shelter at once? _Her eyes landed on a pair who must have been in their eighties. _Do we travel at the speed of the slowest in the group?_ Her gaze flickered over a shell-shocked child sitting in the middle of the road. _Or should I carry those least able to protect themselves?_ With a start she realised she didn't know where the nearest shelter was. She knew the main ones in the central business district and the academy but Sakura was sure that until today she had never been in this district before. Sensei were supposed to instruct genin as to where the shelters were but Kakashi-sensei hadn't showed them yet. Kakashi-sensei hadn't showed them a lot of things. "Does anyone know where the nearest shelter is?" she asked. It took her a second to realise that she had been the one to speak, surprised at the lack of panic in her voice.

"This way everyone, this way, shelters at the end of the next two blocks!" boomed the medic-nin beside her. As the medic repeated himself, wide-eyed civilians looked their way and moved toward them. A grim-faced man picked up the child sitting in the middle of the road that Sakura doubted was his own and briskly walked between the genin. Others raced ahead of them, counting on there being ninja near the shelte'rs entrance to give directions for the final leg of the journey.

Though relieved someone knew where they were meant to be going, Sakura eyed their diamond formation with some trepidation. It was a lot looser than what she was used to practicing, but with so many civilians to protect there was no clear, viable alternative.

"Just leave it!" she called to the man with the sack. The man clearly heard her but didn't drop the sack and so when he began to fall behind, Sakura chose to leave him behind. The lives of those around her were not worth his baubles.

"Duck!"

Sakura pushed the woman in front of her to the ground and felt a wind jutsu roar overhead, cutting into her back. She got back up again and pulled the two closest to her against a building as an Akamichi used their clan jutsu to barrel down the street, after the Sand ninja. Sakura hurried the civilians, along electing to throw several smoke bombs down a street with several approaching Sand ninja. She tied two of the exploding tags to one of the kunai and threw that down the street as well, praying the explosion would kill anyone who would think to pursue them.

They pressed on and after what felt like forever, made it to the shelter. It was through a nondescript double door guarded by two squad of chuunin and what Sakura knew to be two medics and at least one sensor to prevent infiltrating invaders.

Handing over responsibility for the civilians, Sakura directed her squad down a different street while the medic continued to call out, directing the populace to the shelter behind them. They guarded the medic as he healed wounds just enough for civilians to continue onward. The medic even healed a jonin with bandages around his face and severe internal bleeding. They did not stop for everyone. Some the medic deemed beyond his abilities or the move back to the refuge behind them. Sakura did not let her mind linger on them and instead continued to press her team onwards.

Roars of fury and clangs of kunai came from around the corner ahead of them. On reaching the crossroad, Sakura gave the signal to wait, crouched down and peered around the corner. A Leaf and Sand team were engaged. The Konoha ninja appeared to be holding their own except for one shoulder-length haired man, sporting a gruesome laceration on his thigh who had been separated from his team. Sakura retrieved an exploding tag from her pouch as she watched the tiring shinobi being herded further from his group. The ricochet of a tanto was loud in her ears as Sakura witnessed the Leaf shinobi stumble and be disarmed. The pit of Sakura's stomach fell as she watched the blocky Sand ninja smirk and swing a katana in what felt like slow motion. He's not going to make it she realised and without conscious thought, without even using seals, Sakura performed the substitution technique. Swapping places with the disarmed ninja, landing right in front of the enemy, Sakura felt the rush of a blade overhead while she slammed an exploding tag onto the ninja's foot from her crouched position. Turning back towards her team she substituted with a piece of debirs nearby and screamed Kai. Heat rushed over her skin and her bones rattled as the exploding tag detonated. Looking back, Sakura gazed in fascination that the Sand ninja was now in several pieces strewn across the street. Reminding herself she was still in danger there, she hurriedly returned to the other side of the street's corner to check on her team.

They hadn't engaged with anyone since she left, her whole fight having taken less than ten seconds. The medic-nin was already at work with her team still standing at the ready.

"Thanks for the save." There was a sureness in his footing that wasn't there before and less tension in his face. He made a sound of satisfaction as he tested the strength and mobility of his leg.

Sakura gave an uncertain smile at the ninja as her heart continued to speed at a mile a minute.

The newcomer gave a smile and quick salute to Sakura, leaving to re-join his teammates.

"I can sense another injured civilian about two hundred metres in front of us."

Sakura looked up to see a level of respect in the grey eyes than hadn't been there before. Sakura stood. "Lead the way."

On coming upon an unconscious elderly man, Sakura directed her team to drag him inside a nearby building, less exposed from the mayhem outside. One glance at their newest patient and Sakura knew that this would take a while. Deciding to make the most of the time they had, she faced her team. "I'm Sakura Haruno by the way. I know the three Academy ninjutsu, my taijutsu is poor, my chakra control is excellent but I don't know any other genjutsu and have-" Sakura checked her pouch "one pack of exploding tags, three smoke bombs, five shuriken and four kunai left. My chakra reserves are half full. What about the rest of you?" Sakura let her gaze fall on the brunette to her left.

He grinned, rocking on his heels. "My name is Seiichi. Just Seiichi. I'm good with weapons, of which I have eight kunai, six shuriken left and a fist-full of senbon along with some rope and an emergency flare. My chakra control is poor, while my taijutsu and ninjutsu are average. I know the water-bullet jutsu and have enough chakra to perform it three more times. Most of my missions have been escort or guard-detail in nature so our current set-up suits me well."

Sakura nodded and turned to the boy from her graduating class. "Name's Shiranui Hideo. I'm good with traps, my chakra control is above average. I know the flame bullet and great fire-ball techniques. Half of my chakra remains. I also have a pack of exploding tags, ninja wire, nine shuriken, seven kunai and six smoke bombs left." Arms folded, leaning against a table, Hideo slid his eyes to the kunoichi and Sakura's eyes followed.

The kunoichi sat at a sofa stretching her legs before her. She looked thoughtful. "My taijutsu is abover average while my chakra control and ability to detect genjutsu is low. I have six kunai and twelve smoke bombs. I know the Academy jutsu, am proficient at the body flicker technique and like Hideo, I know the flame bullet jutsu. I'm usually the muscle on my team. Since graduation my team has been manning one of the border outposts and have seen little action. My name is Sarutobi Akra."

"I'm Ryuu," the medic said without raising his eyes from his patient. "I specialise in burns and haven't been in the field for quite some time. I have a handful of kunai and shuriken. My medic pack is mostly full but I could do with some more bandages if you come across any.

Sakura looked at them without judgement and nodded. She dug through here pouch and dug out some of her explosive tags. "Here" she said as she handed them to Akra and Seiichi.

Seiichi sent her a grateful look while Hideo did the same. After a beat, Akra followed her lead by sharing her smoke bombs among the remaining four.

Once the medic had done what he could, Akra picked up the elder and Sakura directed the team back toward the shelter. Their pace was faster than before, the streets being less crowded than when they first came that way. It appeared the fighting had moved elsewhere. Or that there were less people left standing, Sakura thought grimly. Sakura felt relief when the shelter first came into view. They returned without incident.

"Back again I see. Good to see you're still kicking," one of the handsome chuunin guards grinned at them. His eyes then slid to her specifically. "Heard you saved a jonin. Not bad for a day's work genin."

Sakura stood without comprehension. "A jonin?"

The chuunin grinned at her bemused expression. "A jonin," he confirmed. "Unless there's some other pink-haired genin running around nearby."

Sakura took a deep breath. "I doubt it."

Once their charge had been transferred to the shelter's medic, Akra turned to Sakura. "What now?"

Sakura considered. "No point going back the way we came, there isn't many people to help down that way. I think we best head closer to the civilian district and market place." The civilian district would have the least amount of off-duty ninja there to help and would likely remain that way due to its strategic unimportance. It also had the highest concentration of civilians under five. It was the civilians her team had been asked to evacuate and there at least she knew where the shelters were, courtesy of her parents. No one questioned her as they followed on her heals towards one of the breaches in the wall and a giant snake summon.

Seiichi finished off a dying Sound ninja they found in the middle of the road with a slash to the neck and Akura and Hideo burnt a Sand ninja before Sakura sensed her approach from behind. Since they left the shelter Ryuu had healed over a dozen civilians and directed them back the way her team had come.

During a lull in the fighting, Sakura calculated her team, particularly Ryuu was low on supplies. She split the group in two and ordered her team to loot the corpses nearby. She hadn't specified which side of the battle to loot and made no comment when unlike Akra, Seiichi and Ryuu's team nearby, Hideo patted down and looted all sides indiscriminately, handing her half of everything he found.

It was not long after when their luck appeared to run out. A grunt and a falter in the footsteps at her back had Sakura turning to see Akra fall to the ground. A Sand shinobi, stockier than what you would usually see had snuck up behind them and no one had noticed.

Being closer, Seiichi threw senbon at her attacker while Hideo withdrew his wire and a shuriken from his pouch.

Sakura ran to stand guard over Akra and watched in dismay as Akra tried to get up only to crumple back to the ground.

Ryuu removed several senbon from her back. "She's poisoned," he muttered.

Sakura gulped. "Can you fix it?"

"With a lab, with time to identify it, yes. Out in the field without an antidote, no. At best I could buy her time." Ryuu's tone was grim.

Hearing the prognosis Sakura called out, "Akra's been poisoned. Aim to disable, not kill, we need an antidote."

On hearing this, Seiichi's lips pursed, but with the help of Sakura's use of an exploding tag as a diversion, he and Hideo managed to trap the enemy in ninja wire. Sakura ran over, grabbing Hideo's rope out of his pouch to help secure their foe.

"Hold him still."

Hideo held the ninja tighter from behind.

Seiichi patted the ninja down, partially stripping him to find several vials. He showed them to Ryuu. "Are one of these the antidote?"

Ryuu inspected and sniffed each one, then grimaced. "I could take a guess but I could just as likely be giving her more poison than the correct antidote."

Sakura's jaw clenched, she grabbed the Sand ninja's hair and pulled his head back bearing his throat. "Where's the antidote?" she hissed in his ear.

The ninja snarled and Seiichi tightened his hold as the struggling increased. "Like I'll tell you filthy Leaf nin anything. Not with what you did to my village, you called yourself our allies and then took the bulk share of missions given out by the Sand Daimyo. You bankrupted my village!"

Hideo ran his kunai along their captive's throat, not enough to kill him, but enough for blood to trickle down his neck. For the first time since she'd met him, amusement danced in his tone. "Who said anything about killing." He let his kunai then trail down to graze over the Suna ninja's crotch. He then turned to look at Sakura over the ninja between them. "I didn't mention this before, but my team was beginning to specialise in capture and interrogation," he said mildly.

Sakura didn't break his gaze. In the space of a few heartbeats an eternity passed between them. She didn't hesitate. "Do it."

Hideo nodded. There was no surprise in his face.

"Let's get everyone into one of the nearby buildings. We're too exposed here." Sakura helped Hideo drag the ninja while Ryuu carried Akra in his arms.

They were in one of the poorer districts. The entered a small residence with windows that had been broken since long before the invasion. A faint musty smell greeted them as they entered and Ryuu lay Akra on the living room couch. Sakura privately thought it was a smart choice choosing the couch over the bedroom given the general state of disrepair and disregard for hygiene around her. She wondered if this was what Natuo's apartment would look like in ten years and a drug habit or two later.

"Seiichi help me secure him, leave me some of your senbon and then guard the entrance." Hideo ordered.

Sakura thought it was a good idea. Already Seiichi was looking a little green. She gripped her kunai and watched the captive in both wariness and interest. He was tied to the kitchen sink with Hideo's rope tightly enough to be cutting off some of his circulation. Hideo had moved the wheeled kitchen island in front of the countertop so that the Suna-nin was bent backwards over it in an awkward position that would be difficult to maintain. Hideo was very carefully going over every inch of the man, removing any weapons and lockpicking instruments he found, while Seiichi had removed the man's boots and jacket entirely.

Seiichi then left and Sakura realised that with Ryuu monitoring Akra, she would have to be the one to assist in whatever Hideo planned next. Hideo removed the man's belt and as his pants sagged, Sakura could see his prominent hipbone sticking out and distantly felt and flash of interest that she felt was inappropriate for the situation. Sakura waited at the ready for Hideo to give her any instructions. She may have acted like the team leader outside but Hideo was the one experienced here. She would follow his lead.

Hideo retrieved a dark cloth from somewhere and started blindfolding the prisoner who hadn't stopped cursing them the entire time.

"Your friend is going to die, slowly. When I get out of these restraints, I'm going to slit your throat. She'll beg me to kill her by the end, beg and plead and whimper. She'll do things she knows she shouldn't do, anything to please me, anything for the pain to end. Then and only then am I going to finish it and there's nothing I'm going to enjoy more than watching the light leave her eyes as I stand over your cold corpse!"

Hideo ignored him and tested the slack in the restraints. "Better isn't it? All nice and snug, much better" he spoke to the captive. Then he pulled him back by the hair and slammed his head into the counter, dazing the ninja. "Sorry man, sorry." When the ninja continued his rant he kept repeating the process until the captive finally ceased talking. "Very good, that's it. Very Good," Hideo said stroking the man's hair.

Sakura watched Hideo repetitively card his fingers through the prisoner's hair wondering what he would do next.

Hideo was quiet and kept stroking his head for at least a full minute. The captive was quiet too. "Now which one is the antidote?" Hideo asked calmly.

"I'll never tell you filthy-"

Hideo started choking the man only to let go when his face was bright red.

The enemy took a huge gasp of air. "Dog fucking Leaf-"

Again Hideo tightened his girp on the captive once more. "Say sorry."

The ninja muttered something under his breath.

Hideo leaned closer and in a burst of speed the ninja kicked out with his legs. He didn't hit either of them and in no time at all, Hideo moved to stab the ninja's feet to the floor. The ninja howled and Hideo gazed up at Sakura evaluating her reaction.

Sakura wasn't sure how she felt. She didn't look away. She wondered if the kunai were lodged hard enough to keep his feet pinned. She wondered how much time Akra had left.

"I only wanted to hurt you a little bit. Why did you make me do that? I only wanted to hurt you a little bit." Hideo stood, gestured with his hand to the ninja's head. _Stroke it_, he mouthed.

Sakura moved behind the counter and stepped up to ninja. After a moment of hesitation, she reached out and started stroking his hair. It was surprisingly very soft. She soon developed a steady rhythm and looked up at Hideo with uncertainty.

Hideo nodded back to her. "Now say sorry." He instructed the ninja.

The ninja then started to cry and his voice cracked on the word sorry.

With a start Sakura realised that the ninja in front of her wasn't as old as she'd first assumed.

Hideo was undaunted. "That's it, very good. That's it," he praised. "Now tell me which one is the antidote."

"Fuck you," the ninja muttered.

A loud crack echoed through the room as Hideo hit him across the face. "I'm very disappointed in you. Don't worry I'll help you be good again. Sakura you're going to help me. I want you to go into the bathroom and grab me some towels."

Sakura traversed piles of unwashed clothes to the bathroom and returned with a selection. She found Hideo filling up a jug of water and handed over the towels.

Hideo smiled "That's it, very good" he told her while propping the enemy's head up. "Hold his head" he ordered. Sakura did just that. Hideo then placed a towel over the captive's face and started waterboarding him. Again, and again the captive almost drowned to death but Hideo never let it go that far. The enemy's whole body word jerk, he would beg, he would cry and through it all Sakura would do whatever it was that Hideo asked.

She did want it to end though. She begged the captive to tell the truth. She told the captive that he had been brave enough, that he could stop fighting now, all he had to do was tell the truth and then she would end his pain forever.

Eventually Hideo was as confident as he could be in the time they had. "It's the one with the blue lid," he called out to Ryuu.

On hearing the information, Ryuu got a look in his eyes Sakura didn't recognise.

Hideo went back to carding the crying captive's hair, telling him that he did well and that he was very proud of him. Hideo then turned to Sakura and after holding her gaze for several seconds, held out his kunai. "Time to keep your promise Sakura."

Sakura took the kunai and moved forward only to hesitate. It seemed different killing an enemy that was incapacitated than when she was fighting for her life. Should he die slow, should he die quick? For the first time this was something that Sakura would be able to choose for her enemy. After a few seconds to consider, Sakura chose to drive it though the ninja's eye, into his brain and it was done. She left the kunai there. She just stood there and felt kind of numb.

Hideo watched her. "Was that your first time?"

_Torturing someone or killing an unarmed man?_ Sakura simply nodded not finding the energy for words. She felt overwhelmed.

Then Hideo was hugging her and she found herself crying into his shoulder. Her head rested on his shoulder while he stroked her back. He smelled nice beneath the sweat and blood and it all felt rather comforting. "You did a good job. You didn't always want to hurt him but you did what I told you anyway. You did a good job," he assured her.

Sakura squeezed him harder to show she'd heard.

"I'm very, very proud of you, you should be proud too. I'm very, very proud of you."

Sakura drank in his presence for a moment and then pulled away. They had spent a lot of time here and the invasion wasn't over. She pulled away only for Hideo's hands on her shoulders to stop her.

"Look at me." He tilted her chin up and waited. "Now if you feel you need someone to talk to about this after the battle you come find me am I clear?"

Sakura nodded.

"Say it," he said.

"If I need to talk about this, I'll come find you."

Hideo searched her eyes. "Good." Then he let her go.

"I can already see an improvement," Seiichi said as they entered the living room.

This time when Akra tried to lift herself, her strength held and she stood.

"She's as healed as we can afford," Ryuu said.

Sakura nodded, let Seiichi lead the way out.

Not a minute after leaving and traversing the debris strewn street, they found a group of terrified children huddled under a cart and agreed they'd found a group worth escorting back to the shelter. After insistent coaxing of the children out from under the cart, they manoeuvred their charges between them and began herding the kids back to safety. It was going well until they were caught in a sound-based attack.

Sakura fell to her one knee and retched, stood and almost fell back to her knees as the vertigo assaulted her. She pulled the children beside her to their feet and urged them onward, wildly looking for the source of the attack. Her eyes landed on a pair of scarred Sound shinobi and sent one of the kunai with attached exploding tags their way, hoping to deter them from engaging her group. It was not to be and the tall ninja with the larger chakra pool just smiled at her as though she had extended some kind of invitation.

The Sound ninja hurled an explosive of his own her way and once again Sakura hit the deck, her body pressed hard against a child's back. She got up, realised she was relatively uninjured only to notice that a large piece of shrapnel had pierced her medic's chest. He was coughing up blood. There were now only four genin guarding the group of children, some of which had been injured in the blast.

The enemy ninjas calmly sauntered towards them, but with members of her group now injured, Sakura realised that they would not make it to the shelter in time. She deflected several kunai and realised with a tightness in her chest that so far, the Sound shinobi had only been toying with them.

"Do you think we should try to stall them?" Sakura asked but could not even hear herself over the ringing in her ears. Her teammates did not seem to have the same problem as she felt them array themselves at her sides, while the children picked up speed behind them. Stalling them it was.

Seiichi sent a water bullet towards their enemies only for them to dodge. The shorter of their opponents with an overbite returned the sentiment with a blast of sound that rattled their bones.

Hideo cast his shuriken wide and pulled, causing a change in their trajectory and managing to wrap Tall and Smiling in the attached ninja wire. Whatever plan Hideo had was quickly abandoned as his new captive sent a surge of lightning chakra down the wire, forcing Hideo to forgo his momentary advantage. Despite taking a hit from Seiichi, Tall and Smiling was now free and quickly retaliated with an earth jutsu, forcing her team to scatter.

Before Sakura could plan her next move, she found herself desperately trying to fend off the earth user in a taijutsu battle. She was failing, badly. However, the rest of her team was fully occupied by the other ninja and couldn't help her. Despite her best efforts against his taijustsu, Sakura quickly realised that she was being herded away from the others. She tried to get back to the others, but the sounds of their battle kept getting further away. This wasn't working.

A sharp blow to the stomach and Sakura found herself tumbling along the road. She tried to stand just for the ninja to unhurriedly walk over and kick her again. She slammed into the wall of a nearby building and slumped down. She watched the other ninja calmly walk over. He was still playing with her and Sakura realised that if she didn't do something different soon, she was going to die here. Getting to her hands and knees, Sakura henged into a cat. She took off as quickly as she could, darting over and under the debris.

The ninja behind her cursed and gave chase.

Sakura ran desperately, hoping to run into some Konoha jonin or anyone who could help her even the odds but everyone she came across was already involved in battles of their own. She couldn't maintain this kind of chakra drain. She darted into a nearby building and sat with her back to the kitchen wall praying he wouldn't find her.

Her prayers went unanswered. "Where are you genin? Come out to play!" he sing-songed.

Sakura heard him cross the threshold of the front porch and wanted to cry. Instead she retrieved another one of her exploding tags and stuck it to the floor, activated the tag, created a clone in her place and left, hoping to exit through a back door.

Boom! Sakura felt the foundations of the house shake and rattle as she reached the backdoor. She had just blown someone's kitchen to smithereens and she didn't care. She did care that she could still feel her enemy in pursuit. Sakura did not know if the timing had been off or the lack of shadow gave her clone away, but she needed another plan.

Fighting him wasn't working, trying to lay traps required time she didn't have, the best she could hope for was to shake him. Running away didn't feel very heroic and it was not an action Naruto or Sasuke would have chosen. But then again, neither of them had ever had to enter a serious fight only knowing the academy jutsu. All those jutsu were meant for hiding, dodging and redirecting, not for offence or blocking an attack, and so Sakura's fingers flew through the relevant seals and felt her body painlessly shape and twist. Her clothes disappeared and small hairs covering her body were replaced with fine, downy feathers. She flapped what had once been her arms and ascended.

Updrafts from fires gave unexpected lift and the dust and smoke made it harder to see. Nevertheless, Sakura made it a point to fly at a diagonal to the streets below in the hopes of better shaking her pursuer. Eventually she realised she had lost him, hopefully to an opponent that would provide him more of a challenge.

Being airborne, Sakura got a view of the battle that she could not have obtained from standing on the tallest business or residential building in Konoha. Where on the streets she had only been able to see mayhem, up above she could see evidence of design, order and purpose. She saw the bottlenecks formed as single Konoha jonin held the enemy back in what had always seemed to her to be some unreasonably narrow streets. She could see why some roads had more fighting than others, how the Uchiha district had provided no resistance as the enemy crossed it from the wall on their way to the central business district, how the placement of holes in the wall suggested that this was no coincidence.

She marvelled how clear it was that clan compounds and important government buildings had been some of the main targets of the attack and that as bad as the civilian losses and horror would be, it would be as collateral damage rather than deliberate design. For a moment she faltered at the idea that Orochimaru might not be a complete and utter monster all the way down to his bones, but dismissed the thought. All the design indicated was purpose and efficiency.

Not all of the fighting was concentrated where she expected. There were some pockets of fighting where the enemy had clearly congregated with a sense of purpose where Sakura could discern no obvious target. Secret bases she wondered? It seemed likely.

She hoped her makeshift team was okay. She tried to get back to them only to realise that she was lost. Looking down below, Sakura searched for a place to land only to see a Sand ninja fighting a long-range battle with the Leaf kunoichi. Unfortunately, long-range didn't appear to be the kunoichi's forte as she kept getting battered by his wind jutsu. Sakura thought back on how Naruto henged his clone into a shuriken during the mission to Waves. Deciding to help, she flew until she was several metres above the Suna-nin, thought of what she wanted to do and henged herself into a large rock.

She hit the ninja and regained her human form with a puff of smoke on landing. She was bruised but otherwise fine. The ninja below her was very much dead, head cracked wide open.

The kunoichi in front of her gaped. "Are you fucking stupid? A rock! I mean really?"

Sakura shrugged. "It worked, didn't it?"

"Crazy genin," muttered the woman.

Feeling the woman wouldn't want to work with her, Sakura got up to leave. She frowned as at this point her charkra was rather low. She heard a cry and looked around. A few metres away she spotted a young woman lying on the ground with a kunai in her back. Sakura detected no chakra signature from her, she was dead. In her arms was a young infant. Sakura picked the baby up. "Where's the nearest shelter?" she called out.

The blonde kunoichi pointed to her left before jumping to a roof in the opposite direction.

Following the kunoichi's direction, Sakura ran down the road hoping that the shelter wouldn't be very discreet or closed. By now some of the shelters would be barring their doors from the inside, wouldn't they? Lucky this was not the case and Sakura almost tripped herself in happiness when she came across a squad guarding a sunken stairway by a park.

"Here," she said passing the infant to one of the chuunin guarding the entrance.

"Good work. It seems like the fighting is winding down now. At least someone seems to have dealt with those snake summons."

_Now there's a sentiment I can get behind_. She shuddered remembering the second part of the Chuunin Exams. I didn't even notice their absence when flying up above she admonished herself.

Sakura didn't linger at the bunker, deciding to head back the way she came. She was about to jump on top of the rooftop in front of her only to feel something slam into the back of her head. She didn't know what it was. She lost consciousness before she hit the ground.

On seeing her not get up, the Sand kunoichi left her for dead. The battle had turned and she fully intended on leaving back through the walls in which she came.


	2. Chapter 2

Hideo withdrew his shuriken from his pouch and launched them into the air. A quick pull later, felt the satisfying resistance in the wire as they began to wrap themselves around his assailant. He had him.

"Raiton!"

Hideo dropped the wire. The crackle and flash of lightning jutsu travelled down the metal and Hideo was thankful lightning chakra didn't travel at the same speed as the real thing.

"Suiton: Suidon no Jutsu!"

Hideo smirked as he watched Seiichi expell a torrent of water towards the ninja, their opponent receiving a mild electric shock from their own jutsu. The smirk didn't last as the Sound ninja, now free of Hideo's wire. was able to flash through the hand seals for an earth jutsu. Hideo scrambled backwards and felt a sense of unease at the smile the ninja sent his way. The overbite had somehow made the grin more unsettling.

As Akra used the pause in battle to engage the ninja in taijutsu, Hideo assessed the field around him. They were being toyed with. Ryuu was still down. Hideo doubted he'd get up again.

To his right, Sakura was fighting a Sound-nin a good two heads taller than her. Though she had avoided major injury thus far, she hadn't been able to hold her ground.

Hideo took aim and threw his shuriken, only to have it diverted by "Overbite."

A cry from his left had Hideo diving out of the way and retaliating with a tagged kunai. Dirt from the blast momentarily blinded him. He threw another volley anyway, his ears guiding him. Finally able to see again, he felt his heart speed up as he glanced in Sakura's direction. She was being herded away from them.

By the look on her face, Sakura knew it too.

Hideo made to move to her side, only to be pulled down by an earth jutsu. Frustrated, he slammed his hands against the ground to push himself up. He didn't have time for this. She didn't have time for this. None of them did.

Though the earth barely went past his waist, he couldn't break free. Panicking, he started stabbing the ground with his kunai to try and loosen the dirt. _I can't die here. Not like this._

A yell from Seiichi was soon followed by a rush of water. It was just enough to loosen the dirt and Hideo pulled himself free. Panting, Hideo looked up to watch his teammate swallow a soldier pill and, in the distance, the sight of Sakura slamming into a wall. She looked dazed. Hideo feared the next blow.

As he ran towards her, he was relieved to see her henge into an alley cat and run. The Sound ninja looked happy to give chase.

Clenching his teeth as he ran after them, he found himself tumbling to the ground. For a few heartbeats he was confused. Then the burn in his leg set in. He had been hit.

Turning back to his remaining teammates, he saw Seiichi on the ground and Akra standing protectively in front of him. We won't last like this Hideo thought. He popped a soldier pill as Seiichi lit the flare and threw it in the air.

Snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger, his hands flew the familiar seals and he expelled the chakra in his chest. The Sound ninja dodged most of the blast. Though the back of his shirt was on fire, it wouldn't be enough Hideo thought.

Luckily it didn't have to be. A pair of jonin dressed in familiar olive flak jackets landed in the middle of the road. They wasted no time engaging the Sound ninja and brought the fight to a decisive end with a slash to their opponent's throat.

The deep satisfaction the sight brought may have unnerved Hideo under other circumstances. It was a visceral thing and he had no doubt it showed in his face when he nodded to the jonin who saved them.

"His partner chased our teammate down that way," he indicated.

The kunoichi and shinobi who had responded to the flare, nodded and took off.

"Ryuu's dead." Hideo was unsurprised but sill grimaced when Akura confirmed it.

"Take his medpack. We'll likely need it."

Seiichi closed Ryuu's eyes as Akra bound his leg. They were upset and did a poor job of hiding it.

Hideo rose and headed after the jonin. "Let's go find Sakura. We'll have a stronger formation with four of us." No one objected to the order. No one suggested Sakura might not be alive or that they may find another stray genin to take her place. They simply nodded and followed on his heals.

Despite their best efforts, it quickly became apparent that they had lost her trail. Hideo cursed himself for not memorising his team's chakra signatures while they were holed up while that geriatric civilian healed. Their only consolation was that they found the corpse of the ninja who had chased her.

The team of genin returned to herding civilians to the shelters after that and luckily the fighting didn't become quite so dire again. The tide of the battle had turned and a handful of Sand and Sound ninja ran past them without trying to engage, eager to head back through the break in the walls. If guarding civilians, the genin often elected to let them pass, but when unencumbered, didn't hesitate to launch a kunai at their back. Soon most of the kills they made were to enemies who were already heavily injured, simply needing someone to give them a final nudge into the Death God's embrace. Hideo was happy to oblige.

Kakashi stared numbly at the corpse in front of him. The weariness and guilt at not having saved someone a familiar weight on his shoulders. _Why am I always too late?_ The Third Hokage was dead.

As the last of the invaders were eliminated from the stadium, more jonin and ANBU dropped beside him to see the evidence for themselves. After a few initial words of shock, each of them fell into silence. No one moved to touch the man and yet neither was anyone willing to leave, content to take a moment to acknowledge the enormity of it all. The Third Hokage was dead, killed by his own student.

It would later occur to Kakashi that perhaps he should have been using this time to hunt Orochimaru down in his weakened state. Orochimaru could no longer harm his leader but he had still been a threat to Sasuke at the time. Despite all this, Kakashi doubted he would do things differently. Some habits were engrained too hard and wasting time apologising to the dead was one of them.

When ANBU he knew and trusted finally came and started to secure the body, only then did Kakashi leave. The enemy had sounded horns to retreat but they were not yet gone. He shushined to the streets and fell into a familiar rhythm, leaving a trail of corpses in his wake. Distantly, a part of his brain registered the presence of Gai beside him, even though he was no longer giving cries of youth. It was a thoughtful gesture and a sign of comradeship that didn't quite touch him.

His mindless slaughter of the enemy only stopped when he felt a presence that haunted so many of his nightmares and more recently, a mislabelled escort mission. _The Kyuubi_. Like everyone else around him he stilled at the horror and realisation, the sheer hate and killing intent being radiated overwhelming. All the little hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stood at attention. The dismay only doubled when he remembered the chakra beast had been sealed inside Naruto.

Kakashi turned and saw the beast beyond the village limits. It was gigantic, towering well above the forest. _I forgot it was so large. How could I have forgotten when that day haunts me so?_ Already, Kakashi could see five tails. At least one tail beyond where the host would likely see reason. _Naruto. _He sped in that direction. The Hokage was dead, the fighting continued in the village, but they would still need someone to stop the beast. Kakashi would have gone regardless. He wasn't going to abandon his team.

With a deafening raw, Kakashi saw another monster join the first. _The Ichibi_. Two jinchuuriki fighting so close to the village was a security nightmare. Even during war, leaders were reluctant to unleash the full force of their living weapons. It was why his sensei had been able to become so much more famous than his wife as he could not say with any certainty which of the two had the greater potential for destruction.

The two behemoths battled it out and thankfully the Kyuubi seemed to gain the upper hand. When the fox finished a final brutal bite, Kakashi felt a sudden rush of potent, maniacal chakra rush towards him. It felt reminiscent of his hand through a teammate's chest and broken promises.

Any hope that things would turn for the better died in his throat as instead of calming down, the Kyuubi then cast its gaze towards the village. _Not again, Kami, never again!_ Kakashi picked up speed. Hopefully he and his fellow ANBU could together recreate the same purple barrier that entrapped their Hokage, to entrap the fox.

A sixth tail appeared. Kakashi's countenance somehow became even more grim. Containment may no longer be an option. If the fox completely freed himself, nothing short of a life could reseal it. He realised he may have to give his life for that endeavour and the thought didn't bother him. He had felt dead inside for a long time now. Leaving ANBU, gaining his genin hadn't completely changed that.

Ultimately, the choice wasn't up to Kakashi as Jiraiya reached Naruto first. He could only watch on as the Sannin gave his life to subdue the beast and somehow alter the seal. His respect for his favourite author only grew as he came across them both lying on the ground.

He sealed Jiraiya's body and picked Naruto up, cradling him to his chest. The boy was unconscious and wounds covered his entire body that were already healing with the red chakra's aid. Nothing hid the boy's clear agony despite being dead to the world around him. _Naruto is alive. I haven't failed him. I haven't failed sensei's son._ Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief and started making his way to the village only to find out how wrong he was.

Pakkun stepped into the path in front of him and with a start Kakashi remembered that he had two of his genin in the area, had sent his friend's student here as well. "I'm so sorry Kakashi," Pakkun said.

Reading his expression. Kakashi swore he heard something inside him crumble.

When he got to Sasuke's broken body, there was a peace in his expression that Kakashi had never seen in life, not even in Sasuke's sleep. Kakashi did not want to leave him there but he did not want to put him in a scroll either. Eventually he manoeuvred the boys so that he carried one over each shoulder, the contrast between the life in one boy and its absence in the other disturbing in a way few things in his life had ever felt.

When he entered the village, he wandered at random with no clear destination in mind, never letting go of the genin on his shoulders. He could have been wandering for hours for all he knew and didn't stop until he was approached by an ANBU man in a cat mask. The man murmured something to him in a low voice that he didn't process and his hands tightened on the boys. Eventually he handed over Sasuke. Had it been anyone but Tenzo it probably wouldn't have happened. He couldn't help Sasuke anymore anyway. His failure to Sasuke was complete, lasting and eternal. He wasn't willing to give Naruto up though, refused to let him go. He picked up the occasional word like 'hospital' and 'seal' but that was it. Finally, someone had had enough and with a jab to a pressure point at his neck, Kakashi was enveloped in darkness. He didn't fight it. He hoped he never woke up.

Life apparently aimed to disappoint Kakashi as he woke several hours later. He woke in an ANBU base, which surprised him as he hadn't been ANBU in years. The frenetic energy in those around him was different from the norm but a hunched form across from him was calmly sharpening a katana.

"Finally up I see." The man did not look at Kakashi or speak any further.

The worn mask was familiar, he had run missions with the man in the past.

Kakashi lay back down. He noticed someone had already removed the scroll containing what was left of his favourite Sannin. He didn't want to go anywhere. He just wanted to lay there wishing he was dead.

Eventually his companion halted the whetstone and cocked his head at him. "Are you really going to just lay there?"

"I wish it had been me," he replied with an honesty about his feelings that he rarely displayed.

"I know. Why do you think you woke here? Why do you think I'm sitting here watching you?"

_So, I've been put on suicide watch again. _Kakashi let out a sigh. _They're not even trying to hide it_.

The man continued "Still I must admit I am still surprised. I thought you would have been eager to be roaming the village helping search and rescue with your pack. Then again maybe I was wrong. Maybe you're not the man I thought you were."

"What makes you think I would be eager to do anything?" Kakashi tried to snarl but more than anything it came out tired.

Here the man once again looked up at him with a sympathy in his voice often foreign to those who donned the mask. "Because one of your genin is still unaccounted for."

Kakashi stiffened and then was quickly out the door. _How could I face Sensei's son if I lost them both?_

It was dark out. Fires among the wreckage provided sources of light, while weeping and moans of pain filled the night. Smoke, death and blood drenched the air, providing less than ideal conditions for his ninken.

The pack was undeterred though and found person after person crushed under the rubble. None of them were Sakura. Though he searched for it, he never felt her familiar chakra signature nearby. He waved the torch in his hand to get a better view of the area around him. For all that he privately had despaired at his genin's dress sense and colouring, he found himself grateful for Sakura's pink hair. He looked for it in the corpses and injured around him, brushed the dust out of light-haired children's hair and took a second glance at those whose hair was drenched in blood.

It was the not knowing that was the torture as all who had stood at the gates waiting on a late comrade knew. He felt relief at each corpse he identified as _not hers_ and anxiety that he couldn't confirm she was okay. He's sure she would have been at the stadium to watch the boys' matches but he did not find her there. None of the other Rookie Nine had seen her either, though he did confirm Shikimaru had made it out alive. At least he wouldn't have Asuma hate him for that. None of the Rookie Nine had enquired after his genin's health bar Ino, Hinata's shy demand inquiring into Naruto's health and oddly enough Shikimaru asking after Sakura. The first question Inoichi's daughter had asked him had not been about Sasuke but about Sakura and though grieving, she took Sasuke's death in stride in a way she hadn't the unknown status of his team's lone kunoichi.

A ration bar and chakra pill he unthinkingly ate that someone had pressed into his hands kept him going through the night, but by daybreak he had yet to find her. Sakura had not been skilled the way her teammates were and he was not confident he would find her alive.

The light of day made identification of bodies easier and he walked the rows of corpses of those from Konoha providing the occasional name where dog tags were missing or the physical features were too badly damaged to make identification of civilians easy. _I can't bear to lose another teammate_. Not finding Sakura among the dead he headed to the hospital and makeshift medic camps. Eventually, finally her found her.

Unable to be discharged and having wounds serious or long-term enough to warrant it, Sakura was lying in a cot. Her arms were bandaged and her chart informed him of lacerations on her back. The most concerning injury was a blow to the back of the head that was being closely monitored. She was not expected to wake for several days but the prognosis suggested she would make a full recovery. Kakashi gave a sigh of relief and his body released some of the tension it had been holding. Having confirmed what he wanted to know, Kakashi did not linger. He stumbled to the makeshift ninja camp and collapsed asleep on one of the hammocks provided. Thankfully, he did not dream.


End file.
